Love & Friendship
by luckyfelixfelicis
Summary: The years in between the Battle of Hogwarts and 19 Years Later. Loose ends don't tie up so neatly and no hero's story ends when he's 17. Slightly AU.
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1**

"The usual?"

Harry Potter looked up and grinned at the pretty young waitress who always worked the early Sunday shift at The Fig, his favorite cafe in Ho Chi Minh. "Yeah, thanks. And tell Tung that I want extra chilis and bean sprouts."

She rolled her eyes at the reminder and banished his order to the tiny kitchen, where an angry Vietnamese wizard was levitating ingredients into several ancient cauldrons, filled to the brim with either extremely strong black coffee or beef bone soup, the main ingredient for the cafe's signature pho.

Harry was sitting at his usual table in The Fig's outdoor garden and listening to the sound of falling water from the elevated pool, in which a large Buddha statue rested peacefully, yawning once in a while when he thought no one was looking. The enclosed garden was shaded by a canopy created by a couple of dozen magnificent, ancient rubber trees. Magical flowers and plants surrounded the elevated pool set in the middle of the large courtyard. Within the pool floated many white and pink Tinkling Lily Pads, an innocuous looking flower with a red center that, if not fed their meal of large mossy frogs twice a day, would produce a seductive lullaby inducing a dreamless sleep from which the listener could never be awaken. The ground was covered by soft Creeping Moss that attempt to expand its green, furry body over everything (and everyone) it touches unless constant Repelling Charms are cast.

Harry had been strongly reminded of the Forbidden Forest the first time he had set foot into the little outdoor garden, not an insignificant factor in The Fig being his most frequented establishment since he arrived in Ho Chi Minh a little less than an year ago.

Yawning himself, Harry stretched out lazily and took a look around. He saw a couple of other regulars, one or two of which gave him a small wave. He waved back and was debating on whether he wanted to exercise his extremely limited and rather horrible Vietnamese when he saw a small and extremely fluffy and round object flying towards him.

Ron Weasley's owl, Pigwidgeon, hooted happily as he almost landed in Harry's coffee cup and started pecking at Harry's napkin, looking for food.

"Hold on Pig, I'll get you some food. Just hold still! At least let me untie Ron's letter." Harry finagled the small roll of parchment from Pig's jumping feet. "Thuy! Can I get some bread for the owl?"

Harry unrolled the letter and let out a whoop of excitement at the first line. Ignoring the irritated look of a nearby American wizard, who was always telling Thuy loudly that he was working his novel about the Vietnam Vampire Wars, as well as a shush from Thuy, now petting Pig, who was hooting delightedly that a pretty girl was paying attention to him, Harry read on eagerly.

 _I'm going to ask Hermione to marry me._

 _I've finally got enough gold saved up for the ring. Bloody expensive thing but it's definitely the one she wants. Woman's been dropping hints left and right about which shop I should go to and what her ring size is. I told her that if I got it wrong, she could just do a Shrinking Charm on it, and she blew up at me and went on and on about how the ring fitting properly wasn't the point. Women._

 _Harry, you have to come back for the proposal, can't do it without you! Also, Hermione's going to drive me crazy with all her wedding plans once we're engaged so I need another bloke around. Can you imagine? Hermione, Mum, Ginny, and Fleur all planning the wedding together? If someone hasn't been Bat Bogeyed at the end, well, if you don't come back, it'll probably be me._

 _Mate, you have been away long enough. Me and Hermione miss you. The whole family miss you. Mum might kill you when you get back for staying away so long but you know she's mental about you. I reckon 3 years' enough time right?_

 _Think about it why don't you? You can apparate back anytime and stay with me._

 _Come home._

 _Ron_

 _P.S. Hope Pig makes it over there alright. You might have to send him back with one of those Vietnamese birds like last time. You know he's rubbish at international travel._

 _P.S.S. I really hope she says yes._

Harry stared at the letter, his excitement deflating a little. _Three years. Has it been that long?_

His eyes scanned Ron's enduringly messy handwriting and his gaze caught on the name that always caused his stomach to twist every time Ron or Hermione casually dropped her name in their letters. He shook his head slightly to clear it and reread the end.

 _Come home._

 _Was he ready to go back to England?_ The lazy rhythm of Southeast Asia had been a balm to his soul after the frantic events of the Battle of Hogwarts but lately…he had been feeling restless. The laid-back expat life no longer soothed him as it once did. The call of the cold and rain and comforting familiarity of England had only grown stronger in recent months, though he did his best to ignore the pull.

He knew he was fighting an inevitable conclusion. He knew that he could not run forever, could not continue bumming from city to city halfway around the world from his friends, his family, his world. He had just wanted to rest, to escape, was that too much to ask?

But now…

Was he ready to be Harry Potter again? Whatever that meant now? Whoever that meant?

He looked down at the letter again. _Ron. Hermione. Getting married!_

He felt himself smiling widely at the thought. _Well, if she says yes._ He snorted at Ron's suggestion and the impossibility of Hermione saying no. Harry was willing to bet quite a lot of galleons that Hermione doesn't even let Ron finish the proposal. _About time they made it official!_

Those two have been acting like an old married couple since 1st Year, driving him mad with all their bickering. The last time they had visited Harry, about 2 months into his stay in Vietnam, they had a huge row at Cu Chi tunnel, where Hermione insisted they go to learn more about how Vietnamese vampires made their muggles hide in underground tunnels to attack the American vampires and their muggles. Ron had complained incessantly about how the small tunnels were not made for proper "English-sized Weasleys" but did not want to be left behind and ended up getting stuck in one of the many tunnels. They rounded off the whole fiasco by making up (and making out) dramatically at Turtle Lake while Harry drank way too many Bia Hanois in an attempt to ignore them and the attention they drew from sniggering locals.

Still chuckling at the memory, he rolled up Ron's letter and pulled out a fresh sheet of parchment. Feeling his resolve strengthen, he quickly wrote his reply.

 _Ron, I'm coming home. For good. Will be at your flat tonight at 6PM."_

After calling for the Tropicbird he had taken to using as an owl, he sent his response back with a well-fed Pig, twittering slightly less than usual.

Thinking of all the packing he had to do, he sat up with a groan. He quickly slurped his pho and got another delicious iced vietnamese coffee to go. They didn't make them like this at the Three Broomsticks and he wanted to savor his last one for a while.

He paid and bade a slightly sad farewell to Thuy, who waved at him quite cheerfully. He had never been good at goodbyes and felt a slight twinge of regret as he walked home from the cafe.

—-

As soon as he had opened his front door, another, much more professional, tawny owl swooped in his window with the _International Daily Prophet,_ which Harry paid an arm and a leg for to be delivered to him overseas. His self-imposed exile didn't extend to news about the wizarding world.

He put a sickle in the owl's money bag, unfurled the Daily Prophet, and automatically flipped to the Sports section out of habit, his eyes automatically seeking out the same name that he looked for every day. He did not have to look long today.

"GINNY WEASLY, RISING STAR OF THE HOLYHEAD HARPIES AND NEWLY CROWNED ROOKIE OF THE YEAR, ACCOMPANIED TO AWARD CEREMONY BY RUMORED LOVER AND TEAM OWNER, DRACO MALFOY"

Harry's eyes narrowed. He scanned further down the page and saw the picture. Hs body suddenly went very hot and then extremely cold.

Ginny Weasley, stunning in an off-the-shoulder dark evening gown, was laughing at something Draco Malfoy, looking, Harry had to admit, rather sharp in what looked to be a handsome Muggle tux, was whispering in her ear. His arm was slung around her waist and his smirk extremely smug.

 _Malfoy. Ginny._

Harry folded the paper sharply, unable to properly process this new startling information. He wanted to hit or kick something, or punch someone, punch _Malf-_

 _BANG!_

He jumped. A large cracked had formed in the body length mirror in the corner of his living room and he realized that his fists were clenched tightly together and his control was dangerously thin.

He firmly shut away his thoughts and his feelings in the part of his brain where he had put all his thoughts and feelings about Ginny for the past three years. Trying to get his breathe under control, he took in several large gulps of air and turned his head around wildly for something in the room to distract him.

He glanced down at the front page and paused at another familiar face. Kingsley Shacklebolt's serious face stared piercingly at him underneath a headline proclaiming "MINSTER OF MAGIC SEEKING TO OVERHAUL AUROR DEPARTMENT."

Harry started reading the article eagerly and felt an odd tingling of excitement starting in his stomach. By the time he read the words "qualified applicants please apply by owl," he felt like he had swallowed the Weasleys' Wildfire Whiz-bangs Deflagration Deluxe.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

Shortly after noon the next day, Harry apparated with a 'pop' and reappeared outside the gates of a small and cozy two-story house complete with a large beautiful garden out front. The green space was filled with a large variety of interesting flora and fauna that had been carefully selected so that something would always be in season year-round. The current headliner were lush red and pink roses deep into their late July bloom, some buds so spectacular they looked moments away from wilting.

There was a small clearing in the middle of the garden with a white wicker table and matching chairs. A little boy with startling blue hair was sitting in the chair facing Harry. HIs feet dangled off the chair and didn't quite reach the grass below. He looked to be around 4 or 5 and was staring intently at a plate of cookies in front of him.

Harry shifted his gaze to the figure next to the little boy. A woman in her early 50s, handsome and graceful, was lovingly and painstakingly hand-pruning a particularly large and bountiful bush. As she cut and shaped the bush, a magical rake bustled around her, moving the unwanted debris aside.

Just as Harry was about to call out, the little boy's hair exploded.

Or rather, it had grown alarmingly fast in all directions while changing wildly between red and green, like some sort of weird Christmas decoration.

"Teddy!" scolded the woman, hurrying to the little boy. "What did I say about practicing your Metamorphing? Start small. Color-change first and then length, not both at the same time."

"But Gram, I want to scare Tommy Taylor. He put a worm in my hair and it was so gross!"

"Now Teddy, we mustn't use Meta-" begin Andromeda Tonks when Harry coughed loudly, extremely amused by the situation but wanting to save Teddy from one of his grandmother's gentle, but unending lectures. Grandmother and grandson looked up towards the gate as Harry walked into the garden.

"UNCLE HARRY!" screamed Teddy as he leapt up from his chair and hurtled towards Harry.

"Oof. I've missed you too Teddy." He said to the top of Teddy's still red and green head as the little boy wrapped his small arms around Harry's knees tightly. Harry reached down and picked Teddy up for a proper hug and moved to give Andromeda a tight one-armed squeeze.

"Harry dear, so good to see you! When did you get back? I thought we wouldn't see you until September." Andromeda beamed at him and pulled her wand from her gardening apron and summoned a tea pot, cups, and saucers from the open kitchen window and ushered Harry and Teddy towards the wicker table.

"Change of plans." Harry sat down and Teddy, who seemed unwilling to part from his godfather, remained in Harry's lap. Teddy's hair was rapidly shrinking and changing back its usual length and color. His revenge on Tommy Taylor seemed momentarily interrupted by the appearance of his favorite person in the world (after Gram of course).

Andromeda handed Harry a teacup, which he accepted with a smile. "You are welcomed here anytime. You know I've always said you should visit more often. How long are you staying this time? Oh you should have Owled! I would have set up the guest room for you. Oh, I'll go right n-"Andromeda made up to rise but Harry grabbed her wrist gently and pulled her down.

"No need Andromeda. I'm going to stay a while this time so I thought I'd stay with Ron."

"For a while?" Andromeda inquired, her eyes asking a deeper question.

"Yes." Harry said firmly. "I'm going to stick around for longer this time. Indefinitely. Well, at least for the near future. I don't know if I'm quite done with Asia yet."

"Well, a while is good. Indefinitely is better." Andromeda replied with a satisfied air though Harry knew that she had more, inappropriate-for-Teddy questions that he was sure she would pepper him with once she got him alone. Teddy, unaware that he had saved Harry from answering questions that he wasn't sure he had answers to, had not been listening to the conversation and was drinking his tea and eating cookies rather enthusiastically.

"Regardless, you can still stay here can't you? My house will be much more comfortable than Ron's, I mean, he's not the cleanest wizard is he?" Andromeda pursed her lips. Harry grinned, reminded of Mrs. Weasley's similar disapproving look when she had visited Ron's shockingly messy flat.

"I'm used to it, I lived with him for 7 years," said Harry. "And I don't want to impose Andromeda, you don't need to be taking care off me as well. Teddy's already a handful."

"Nonsense! It's hardly an imposition. We love having you here! And Teddy is always saying that he wishes you could live with us and he could see you all the time." Andromeda said persistently, her resemblance to Mrs. Weasley growing even stronger. Harry hasten to head her guilt trip off, knowing just how effective they could be.

"I'm planning on joining the new Auror Department Kingsley's announced. Well, if they'll have me. I haven't talked to Ron about it but I'm sure he's keen to join as well. The hours will probably be long and I don't want to disrupt Teddy's and yours life. It just makes more sense for me to live with Ron at first." Andromeda did not look entirely convinced. Harry tried for a different tact.

"Come on Andromeda, let me experience the bachelor life! Living with my best mate, sleeping till noon, chatting up witches in pubs! You don't want me to be such a bad influence on little Teddy right?" Andromeda lips twitched at this. "I promise to visit so much that you'll wish I still lived in Asia."

"Well, I suppose you're right." Andromeda said grudgingly and then added approvingly. "When I saw the announcement in the Daily Prophet, I had an inkling that this might happen." Harry didn't say anything to this and instead choose to focus on his god son, who now had a rather impressive mound of cookie crumbs in front of him.

"Teddy, did you hear that? I'm moving back to London so I"ll get to see you all the time now." Harry said to Teddy. The little boy looked stunned with happiness and his hair turned even brighter.

"YAY! Are you going to live with us?! Oh Gram, can Uncle Harry please live with us? He can live in my room so we can play all the time!" Teddy looked at his grandmother eagerly.

"I'm going to stay with Uncle Ron for a while before I find my own place but I will come visit as much as you want." Harry said and almost laughed at Teddy's comically crestfallen face.

"But whyyy? Uncle Ron can live with us too, can't him Gram?"

"No!" Andromeda said almost immediately. "Er, that's to say, your uncles are going to be quite busy with work so best for them to live closer to work."

"I'll come see you all the time, Teddy. And you can come visit Ron's place, and mine too, when I'm settled." added Harry and Teddy looked slightly mollified.

Teddy and Andromeda spent the entire afternoon asking Harry about his adventures in Vietnam. Harry told them all about his little flat in the middle of Ho Chi Minh's wizarding village, the fascinating Vietnamese vampires, and his favorite haunts. Andromeda was particularly intrigued by his descriptions of the magical plants in The Fig's garden while Teddy loved hearing about the vampires, who ran most of the local establishments. Harry omitted some of the more adult details from the vampire stories, he did not think it was very wise to tell the 4 year old Teddy, especially in front of Andromeda, exactly how blood-thirsty some of the vampires he had met were.

At 6PM, Harry bid a farewell to Teddy and Andromeda with the promise to come for dinner that weekend.

When he appeared in Ron's London flat moments later, he saw an astonishing sight. Ron Weasley, red hair sticking up in all directions and wearing a dirty Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes, was standing over the sink in a sparking kitchen and casting Scouring Charms rather manically at a large pile of dishes.

"Harry!" Ron cried happily when he saw Harry. He sent the clean dishes rather haphazardly into the cupboards and then rushed to embrace his best friend.

"Hold on!" Harry held Ron at arms' length and forced his face into a serious expression. "I need to ask you some questions.

"Wha-what?" Ron stammered. "What's wrong? Did something happen?"

"Who are you and why are you impersonating Ron Weasley?" Harry demanded. "Tell me something only Ron would know! Like, which Harpies player did he have wet dreams about all throughout 5th year?"

"You prat!" Ron yelled as he seized Harry in a headlock. "I've been cleaning for you like mad all day. Look at this place! Probably hasn't looked like this since I've moved in."

Harry struggled out of the hold and gave Ron a proper hug. He then looked around and whistled. "When did you get so good at cleaning Charms? Has Hermione made you learn these charms so you can experience and appreciate the life of a house-elf?"

Ron snorted. "No, but don't go giving her any ideas or she'll integrate it into the SPEW curriculum. I do a hundred cleaning spells at the shop. Little twerps always running around the shop and messing up the displays. Developing products with George is no shake either." Ron grimaced. "His strategy for finding new products is just to combine a bunch of ingredients and see what happens. The lab is a mess everyday but a miracle that one of us hasn't lost an eye."

Harry laughed, marveling at the thought of Ron being a responsible and wage earning wizard, and popped down on the couch. "I'm starving, do you have any food?"

"Yeah, I have some food Mum sent over yesterday." Ron said and waved his wand. A large roast chicken, a loaf of bread, 2 bottles of Butterbeers and a couple of the newly cleaned dishes and utensils flew from the kitchen and landed on the coffee table in front of them.

"Excellent!" Harry cried and grabbed a chicken leg. "I've missed your Mum's cooking."

"Well you'll get to have it tomorrow. I accidentally let it slip that you were visiting and she insisted that we go over for dinner tomorrow." Ron paused, and then asked hesitantly. "Are you…visiting? Your letter said you were coming back. Did you mean…for good?"

Harry looked at Ron's uncharacteristically serious expression and said, "Yeah, I'm back for good." Ron let out a yelp of happiness and reached over and pulled Harry's head in a tight headlock again.

"This is great! You're finally back!" Ron cried happily, still holding Harry's head and accidentally knocked Harry's glasses of his face. "Oh sorry mate, got carried away." Ron said hastily, releasing Harry and giving him back his glasses.

"It's okay, I've always known your love for me was overwhelming." Harry dodged the pillow Ron threw at his head. "Do you mind if I crash here for a couple of weeks before I find my own place?"

"What? Why would you get your own place? You'll live with me of course." Ron said matter-of-factly. "Oh this is excellent, you can help me out with rent. My savings really took a hit with that ring."

Despite what he had told Andromeda and Teddy about his plans to live alone, Harry had rather been hoping for this response from Ron and agreed instantly. He smiled down at his chicken and dug in with a renewed relish while Ron continued complaining about how engagement rings were a scam invented by Muggles.

"So, what are your plans?" Ron asked once they had finished eating. Both Ron and Harry were laying on couch with their hands over their extremely full and slightly extended bellies. "Did you see yesterday's Daily Prophet?"

Harry hesitated and decided that Ron did not mean the article in the Sports section.

"Yeah, I saw the one with Kingsley." Harry replied and seeing the questioning look on Ron's face. "Yeah I'm going to apply. You?" Ron nodded.

"Good." Harry said simply.

"Feels right, doesn't it?" Ron asked, serious again. "That we do this."

"Yeah," agreed Harry. "It does." A comfortable moment passed between them.

"Did you…see the other article?" There was no question which article Ron was referring to now. He and Ron rarely ever talked about Ginny.

In the past three years, Ron had often given Harry updates on Ginny's life offhandedly, as though he knew Harry could not bring himself to ask directly for news about her. Ron had always been surprisingly shrewd about Harry's feelings, much more than Ron was about his own feelings, much to Hermione's frustration.

"Yeah I saw it." Ron said nothing but shot a look at Harry from the corner of his eyes.

"Where's Hermione? Still working late?" Harry asked firmly. He did not want to talk about Ginny.

Ron gave him a measured look and replied, "Yeah, but she said she'll drop by as soon as she's done." He looked at the clock, which said a quarter to 9. "You never know with her hours but she's usually done by 11."

Ron didn't bring up Ginny again and instead asked him about Vietnam. Grateful for the change in topic, Harry told Ron a much more truthful and colorful version of the stories he had told Teddy and Andromeda this afternoon including a particularly embarrassing encounter that Harry had with a pretty Vietnamese muggle when he had been extremely inebriated.

"I didn't know her boyfriend was nearby and I had to make a run for it. He was quite large but slow," Harry reminisced.

"Did she remind you of Cho? Is that why you went for her?" asked Ron, wriggling his eyebrows suggestively.

"Not all Asian women look alike Ron." Harry replied, but then added, "Although, she did wear her hair the same way. You know, I've always had a thing for long hair." Ron could not stop sniggering.

They continued arguing about whether a bloke could be a "hair man" and whether Harry had abnormal sexual fetishes. Ron opened a bottle of Firewhiskey around 10 and their discussion became more and more inappropriate as the dark amber liquid disappeared.

Harry laughed uproariously at a story Ron told him how a recent sexual escapade George had planned with a muggle woman had been interrupted by the same woman's sister.

"He must have messed up the times so the sister came in just as things were getting hot and heavy. He ended up being kicked out of his own flat and you know he wasn't wearing much, except for you know, that muggle thing on his p-Hermione!" Ron cried at the appearance of a tired-looking but bright-eyed Hermione Granger in the kitchen. Both Harry and Ron rushed to their feet rather unsteadily to greet her.

"Oh Harry, you're here!" Hermione beamed at Harry and gave him a tight hug. "I'm so happy to see you." She was wearing a set of professional dress robes with her unruly hair pulled back from her face in a serious bun. Harry had never seen her in her work clothes before and was reminded again of how much his friends had grown since he had been away.

Hermione sniffed the air and wrinkled her nose. She looked rather sternly at both Ron and Harry and asked, "You two smell terrible, how many bottles did you drink?"

"Oh Hermione, don't nag!" said Ron a little too loudly and dropped a quick kiss on Hermione's cheek. "We're celebrating, Harry's back for good!"

"Really?" Hermione looked surprised. "Well, that's wonderful Harry! Are you going to apply for the new Auror Department? Is that why you came back? Did Ron tell you that he's applying too?"

Ron looked exasperatedly at Harry before exclaiming, "You can grill him tomorrow, Hermione. He just got back today, the three of us should celebrate!"

"Well, he's been gone for so long so I'm just wondering why." Hermione said, still looking probingly at Harry.

"It was time." Harry said quietly. "Part of it was the Kingsley thing but mainly it was time. I've been away for long enough." Like Andromeda, Hermione did not seemed satisfied by Harry's answer but before she could open her mouth again, Ron cut in.

"Hermione, let's not talk about that now! Come have a drink with us. Harry's home and we're all back together again!" Ron said, half-dragging Hermione to the couch and pouring a glass for her.

Hermione, a smile tugging at her lips, sat on the couch and watched Ron as he explained why she had to join them, each reason less compelling than the last. "Tomorrow's Saturday and you don't have to work! There's no harm in having just a little. It's Harry! You know Harry, our best friend, we have to finish this bottle for him, it's only right." Ron insisted.

"Well alright, just the one." Hermione said, looking extremely amused now. Ron barked a laugh of triumph. "Harry, what are you still doing in the kitchen? Come drink!"

Harry looked at the huge grins on Ron's and Hermione's faces and felt a familiar warmth spread in his chest.

 _He was home._


End file.
